First Time Out With The New Bushy AR15 AK Carbine

[cslinger]

Well the gun came pretty well sighted in from the factory for 100 yards. I was able to put 7 out of 8 rounds into a paper plate at 100 yards with open sights. This is no small feet for me as I do not normally shoot at 100 yards. These were the first 8 rounds I fired from the gun.

I did notice that at 25 yards I had to aim a bit high to get things on target, probably due to the height of the stock iron sights off of the barrel. Once that was accomplished it grouped pretty well off hand at both 25 and 50 yards.

The most important thing to me though was that it functioned 100% through 130 rounds and three magazines. Two GI, used 30 rounders and the Bushy 10 round neutered mag.

All in all two very big thumbs up.

Julie was able to put 4 out of 5 shots into a paper plate at 50 yards off hand. This was awesome as she normally doesn't shoot that far and was having a little trouble with the weight of the heavy barrel. I was so proud of her. She refused to sit and rest the gun while firing because she wanted to shoot standing and off hand because resting the is "cheating". God bless her. Yep she is all mine.

Anyway just wanted to post that not only do I feel good about sending Bushmaster some of my money for political reasons but also to report that I think they make a darn fine product.

Chris

 

[444]

That's great. I own several Bushmaster rifles and have been nothing but pleased with mine in every way. Now is the time to think about your zero. Check out this thread from today on AR15.com
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=157349

I think you will find that as your skills improve, you will probably never be able to shoot to the potential of that rifle. They are extremly accurate.

 

[boing]

The Santose BZO. I can dig it. I especially like using the small aperture for all my shooting.

My Shorty AK was my first rifle, and it's swell.

 

[cslinger]

I am not a member of AR15.com and don't feel like registering yet so I cannot view the info.

I do have a question though.

The zeroing instructions that came with our Bushy are for zeroing at 25 yards. Is this because the sight posts are so hight and it wil shoot low at that close of a range. I have always thought most rifles should be zeroed at a 100 yards for general purpose work. The rifle shot exceedingly well at 100 yards but low at 25 yards.

I realize this question may have been answered on AR 15 but like I said I am not ready to sign up just yet.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Jack19]

Chris, welcome to the world of AR15s.

Also check out the Maryland AR15 Shooters site....

Maryland ARs

LOTS of zeroing info available there w/o signing up.

 

[Oleg Volk]

Mine is zeroed dead-on at 25 and that gives 300 point blank range. At 10 or so, I just use the tops of the sight ears and the rear aperture to get hits, else the rifle shoots low due to high sight axis...or use the bottom of the EOtech reticle.

 

[444]

The standard zero for the M16 in the military is dead on at 25 yards, however this is not the optimum distance to zero. It doesn't take advantage of the flat trajectory of the cartridge. To quote Lt. Colonel Chuck Santose "The current 300 meter battlesight zero is a function of the sights on the rifle and I personally find it shoots too high for the vast majority of combat targets, including the Army's qualification ranges. " The 300 meter zero is dead on at 25 meters. A much more functional zero is the "imporved battlesight zero" which is dead on at 50 yards. Again, to quote Lt. Colonel Chuck Santose; "When zeroed at 200 meters, a distance twice that of normal combat engagements, these rifles have a very flat trajectory that is less then 2" from line of sight at all intermediate distances; a distance that's smaller than the normal dispersion of arsenal or factory loaded ammunition. This tiny trajectory arc allows very precise shooting out to 250 meters where the bullet is only 2" below line of sight".
Don't worry about the link to AR15.com because it only provided a link to the Maryland AR15 website that describes the improved battle sight zero. After you read the stuff, check out their website. It is absolutely loaded with all kinds of great AR15 information.

http://groups.msn.com/TheMarylandAR15ShootersSite/improvedbattlesightzero.msnw

 

[cslinger]

Thanks guys.

 

[444]

Where you zero your weapon is a function of what you are going to do with it. If I was planning on shooting most of the time at 100 yards, I would zero at 100 yards. But using the zero that makes maximum use of the cartridge is a concept that I was introduced to when I bought my first computer ballistic software. I realized right from the start that I didn't want a zero that required me to hold way over or way under a target that was within a reasonable distance or a distance that I thought I might realistically be shooting that particular rifle. With the software, I could plug in various ranges of zero and see what path the bullet would take. Using this tool, I could play around until I found a range of zero that seemed to be optium for the cartridge. This improved battlesight zero is the same thing. The M16 or our AR15s were designed as a military rifle, so the focus was on shooting humans. The IBZ allows you to hold center mass on pretty much any target you might encounter and would expect to hit with a rifle. Of course it is not a laser. For pinpoint accuracy you need to see just where the rifle hits at various ranges. For some rough numbers you should expect the rifle with an IBZ to shoot about 1.5" low at 25 yards, dead on at 50, around 1.5" high at 100, dead on at 200, and as pointed out, about a couple inches low at 250. You need to shoot at those distances to get a feel for where your rifle hits.
This is the zero we used at Gunsite where I recently took their carbine class. We shot at silhouette targets but were expected to be putting all our shots center mass in a group. After shooting around 1800 rounds at the course, I pretty much had it figured out where to hold for a head shot at 3 yards, or a hit on a pepper popper at 400. And this is the goal. You can zero anywhere and as long as you know where the rifle hits at a given range, you are good to go. The IBZ just makes this easier for you.